Predicting Understandability of a Software Project: A Comparison of Two Surveys

This paper summarizes the results of an empirical study conducted to explore the relative importance of eight pertinent COCOMO II model drivers in predicting the understandability of a software project. Here understandability of the project is measured solely from the perspective of the development team. This empirical study employed a survey that was targeted towards experienced practitioners. Results from this survey are compared with the corresponding results from a prior similar survey conducted on graduate students. While this comparison reveals some interesting differences between the importance given to each of the eight model drivers by these two categories of individuals it also highlights some subtle similarities.